"expedition leader Robert O'Hara Burke and surveyor William John Wills ventured further north in an attempt to reach the Gulf coast. During their occupation of the site, the party blazed 15 trees to mark its location. A search party led by Frederick Walker arrived in the area 11 months later, on 8 January 1862, and also established a camp on a small seasonal lagoon near Burke and Wills' Camp B/CXIX. Walker's expedition blazed a tree to record the location of their camp approximately north of Burke and Wills' Camp B/CXIX. Inspired by the prevailing interest in the sciences and exploration,"
"Robert O'Hara Burke Robert O'Hara Burke (6 May 1821c. 28 June 1861) was an Irish soldier and police officer who achieved fame as an Australian explorer. He was the leader of the ill-fated Burke and Wills expedition, which was the first expedition to cross Australia from south to north, finding a route across the continent from the settled areas of Victoria to the Gulf of Carpentaria. The expedition party was well equipped, but Burke was not experienced in bushcraft. A Royal Commission report conducted upon the failure of the expedition was a censure of Burke's judgement. Burke was born in"
"police superintendent in the Castlemaine, Victoria district. In 1860 he was given leave to take command of the exploring expedition to cross the continent from Melbourne in the south to the Gulf of Carpentaria in the north. The objectives of the expedition were hazy and its route, from Cooper Creek to the Gulf of Carpentaria, was decided less than a month before it set out. Burke's instructions, sent after him because they were not ready at the time, were lengthy and vague. The real object of the expedition appears to have been to snatch from the South Australian explorer, John"
"became the Royal Society of Victoria. The Burke and Wills expedition was led by Robert O'Hara Burke, who was a superintendent of police in the Castlemaine district when, in 1860, he was given leave to take command of the exploring expedition to cross the continent from south to north. The objectives of the expedition were hazy and its route, from Cooper's Creek to the Gulf of Carpentaria, was decided less than a month before it set out. Burke's instructions, sent after him because they were not ready at the time, were incoherent. The real object of the expedition appears to"
"not related to his contemporary, surveyor and explorer Stephen King, a participant in John McDouall Stuart's successful 1861–1862 expedition. John King (explorer) John King (15 December 1838 – 15 January 1872) was an Irish soldier who achieved fame as an Australian explorer. He was the sole survivor of the four men from the ill-fated Burke and Wills expedition who reached the Gulf of Carpentaria. The expedition was the first to cross Australia from south to north, finding a route across the continent from Melbourne in Victoria to the Gulf of Carpentaria in Queensland. He was born at Moy in County"
"parties of just two or three to large, well equipped teams led by gentlemen explorers assisted by smiths, carpenters, labourers and Aboriginal guides accompanied by horses, camels or bullocks. In 1860, the ill-fated Burke and Wills led the first north-south crossing of the continent from Melbourne to the Gulf of Carpentaria. Lacking bushcraft and unwilling to learn from the local Aboriginal people, Burke and Wills died in 1861, having returned from the Gulf to their rendez-vous point at Coopers Creek only to discover the rest of their party had departed the location only a matter of hours previously. Though an"
"and as a result of this expedition became one of the first British people to enter this region. In 1861 Walker led a party, ostensibly in search of the ill-fated Burke and Wills expedition, but his focus was more upon hunting for new pastoral runs. His meticulous journal of the search is often transcribed from the abridged version published by the Royal Geographical Society, but the full version is found in the correspondence of the Gulf of Carpentaria exploration expedition of Commander Norman. On 25 August 1861, Walker set out from Rockhampton accompanied by ex-Native Police troopers Jingle, Rodney, Patrick,"
"South Australian Burke Relief Expedition, was formed in Adelaide and led by John McKinlay. The Exploration Committee of the Royal Society of Victoria appointed Frederick Walker to lead a third party of 12 men from Rockhampton along the Barcoo and Thomson rivers to the Norman River, then to the Gulf of Carpentaria to meet Commander Norman and H.C.MS steamship Victoria. The fourth relief party was led by William Landsborough. The Landsborough party travelled from Brisbane aboard the Firefly which took them to the Gulf of Carpentaria. These expeditions had a covert goal of scouting for grazing land and in the"
"of them ex-troopers from the Native Police Corps, started from Rockhampton on 7 September 1861 with the goal of reaching the Gulf of Carpentaria. They found traces of Burke and followed them to Burke’s northernmost Camp, but lost the trail from there. On 4 December, they came across a group of Aborigines, killing 12 in the fight that ensued. On 7 December, Walker met up with the HMVS ""Victoria"" in the Gulf. Walker’s party went on to explore much of the Gulf region. The South Australian House of Assembly chose John McKinlay to lead the South Australian relief expedition that"
"John King (explorer) John King (15 December 1838 – 15 January 1872) was an Irish soldier who achieved fame as an Australian explorer. He was the sole survivor of the four men from the ill-fated Burke and Wills expedition who reached the Gulf of Carpentaria. The expedition was the first to cross Australia from south to north, finding a route across the continent from Melbourne in Victoria to the Gulf of Carpentaria in Queensland. He was born at Moy in County Tyrone, Ireland on 15 December 1838 to Henry King (d.1839) and Ellen Orn (d. September 1847). King was the"
"1861. The New Zealand Wars deployment was the first time an Australian warship had been deployed to assist in a foreign war. The legal hazards of having a colonial warship operating outside her territorial limits was rectified by declaring that all Australian warships in international or foreign waters had to be commissioned into the Royal Navy. When news reached Melbourne in July 1861 that the explorers Burke and Wills were missing somewhere between Cooper Creek and the Gulf of Carpentaria the Royal Society of Victoria decided to send a number of search parties to search for them. Commander William Henry"
"September 1860 where several people resigned, including the second-in-command, George James Landells and the medical officer, Dr. Hermann Beckler. Cooper Creek, 400 miles further on, was reached on 11 November 1860 by the advance group, the remainder being intended to catch up. After a break, Burke decided to make a dash to the Gulf of Carpentaria, leaving on 16 December 1860. William Brahe was left in charge of the remaining party. The small team of Burke, William Wills, John King and Charley Gray reached the mangroves on the estuary of the Flinders River, near where the town of Normanton now"
"1840s, but explorers remained ambitious to discover new lands for agriculture or answer scientific enquiries. Surveyors also acted as explorers and the colonies sent out expeditions to discover the best routes for lines of communication. The size of expeditions varied considerably from small parties of just two or three to large, well-equipped teams led by gentlemen explorers assisted by smiths, carpenters, labourers and Aboriginal guides accompanied by horses, camels or bullocks. In 1860, the ill-fated Burke and Wills led the first north-south crossing of the continent from Melbourne to the Gulf of Carpentaria. Lacking bushcraft and unwilling to learn from"
"to north of Australia were at the Gulf of Carpentaria without the means to support life. Norman and HMCS ""Victoria"", together with other vessels, were immediately dispatched to take a search-and-rescue party to the Gulf to locate and assist Burke and Wills. While waiting in the Gulf for the search team to return, Norman undertook hydrological surveys of the Gulf and Torres Strait (an area notorious for its reefs). On 14 July 1866, the ship carrying immigrants to Queensland was wrecked off King Island in Bass Strait and all the 413 passengers and 49 crew made it onshore safely, but"
"to raise a lyrebird chick and sent sketches of the egg to ornithologists in Germany and France. He illustrated botanical works for Ferdinand Mueller including ""Fragmenta phytographiae Australiae"" (1858–82) and ""The Plants Indigenous to the Colony of Victoria"" (1860–65). His scientific knowledge and artistic ability qualified him for selection as a member of the Victorian Exploring Expedition in 1860–61, which has since become known as the Burke and Wills expedition. It was organised by the Philosophical Institute of Victoria which in 1860 became the Royal Society of Victoria. The Burke and Wills expedition was led by Robert O'Hara Burke, a"
"the Burke and Wills expedition in 1860. The Burke and Wills expedition camped at Menindee on their journey to cross Australia from Melbourne to the Gulf of Carpentaria. They arrived here on 14 October 1860, crossed the Darling River at Kinchega Station and made Camp XXXIV (their thirty-fourth camp since leaving Melbourne). There was dissent within the party and the deputy-leader George Landells resigned. Robert O'Hara Burke split the party, heading north to Cooper Creek with half the men, stores and animals. The remaining men, stores and animals made a depot camp at Pamamaroo Creek and a sign and cairn"
"where they formed a depot. The remaining men were expected to follow up from Menindee and so after a break, Burke decided to make a dash to the Gulf of Carpentaria. Burke split the party again and left on 16 December 1860, placing William Brahe in charge of the depot on Cooper Creek. Burke, Wills, John King and Charley Gray reached the mangroves on the estuary of the Flinders River, near where the town of Normanton now stands, on 9 February 1861. Flooding rains and swamps meant they never saw open ocean. Already weakened by starvation and exposure, progress on"
"and pushed further north through the mangroves in an attempt to reach the Gulf of Carpentaria coast. However, after three days of difficult travel, they returned south picking up Gray and King. The return trip from the Gulf of Carpentaria became a desperate race to reach the depot camp on Cooper's Creek on low rations and with failing camels. On 3 April 1861, the Burke and Wills Expedition were approximately north of present-day Birdsville. Burke on that day gave an order ""for leaving behind everything but the grub and just what we carry on our backs."" That evening Wills made"
"establish. That expedition had already reached the Darling River in northern New South Wales.) Stuart left Chambers Creek with a dozen men, 49 horses and rations for 30 weeks on 1 January 1861. It was high summer in South Australia and the worst possible time for travelling. Stuart was soon forced to send two men and the five weakest horses back. The heat was extreme and the party often delayed while Stuart searched for fodder and water. They were still in northern South Australia on 11 February, the day that Burke and Wills reached the Gulf of Carpentaria. With difficulty,"
"and his party to the mouth of the Albert River in the Gulf of Carpentaria. They travelled southwards along the Gregory River and across the Barkly Plains and later to Menindee but failed to find a trace of the Burke and Wills party. The Landsborough Expedition party successfully travelled all the way from the Gulf of Carpentaria to Victoria. Jemmy, Fisherman and Jackey, the Aboriginal people involved with Landsborough's Expedition, not only guided the non-Aboriginal explorers through their country, they also fed and watered them. They were vital contributors to the experiences that became stories of colonial exploration and settlement."
"40 kilometres by road from present-day Normanton, was the most northerly of their expedition. While Burke and Wills made it to the Gulf of Carpentaria, they both perished on the return journey. Altogether seven men lost their lives, and only one of the four men who reached the north coast, John King, survived to return to Melbourne. The restoration of the heritage-listed Camp 119 was administered by the department in 2012 in conjunction with the Carpentaria Shire Council. It included terminating vehicle access along with rectification and stabilisation works to the roadway to better protect the site. Funding was also"
"the Victorian Exploration Expedition and Robert O'Hara Burke, a police superintendent from the Castlemaine District of Victoria, was chosen to lead the expedition - a position he had anxiously and diligently pursued. Burke was born in 1821 in County Galway, Ireland, to Protestant gentry. He was educated at Woolwich and served as a lieutenant in the Austrian cavalry and later in the Irish Mounted Constabulary before emigrating to Australia in 1853. The Society chose William John Wills as the expedition's surveyor and astronomer and third-in-command behind camel master George James Landells. Wills was born in Devon, England in 1834 and"
"in 1860 on their journey across Australia from Melbourne to the Gulf of Carpentaria. They arrived on Saturday, 25 August 1860 and made Camp VI, (their sixth camp since leaving Melbourne). Sunday was taken as a rest day when the men caught up on chores and they left on Monday morning. The road from Lancefield to Mia Mia via Ben Loch and the Great Dividing Range is now called 'The Burke and Wills Track'. In 2010 the town erected a small monument to the expedition to mark the sesquicentennary of their visit. Mia Mia, Victoria Mia Mia is a picturesque"
"the Gulf of Carpentaria. Europeans first explored this area in the 1860s. John McKinlay searched for lost explorers Burke and Wills in 1862 and John Graham MaacDonald explored a route from Carpentaria Downs to the Gulf in 1864. Pastoralists followed these early explorers, bringing sheep in 1865, but by 1867 many had retreated because of fever, drought, low wool prices and distance from the markets. An overland telegraph line was constructed from Cardwell to Normanton between 1869 and 1872. This passed through the Croydon district and later became a lifeline for the northern mining fields. Gold was first discovered on"
"seat of Gorton in 2004. Division of Burke (1969–2004) The Division of Burke was an Australian Electoral Division in Victoria. The division was created in 1969 and abolished in 2004. The division was named after Robert O'Hara Burke, an explorer who led the Victorian expedition in 1860, the first to cross Australia from south to north. It was located in the outer northern suburbs of Melbourne, including Broadmeadows and Thomastown, but later extended into rural areas including Bacchus Marsh, Gisborne and Sunbury. It was generally a safe seat for the Australian Labor Party. The last member for Burke, Brendan O'Connor,"
"Landells, King, two other Europeans, eight Indian sepoys and 24 camels sailed for Melbourne aboard the S.S. ""Chinsurah"" on 30 March 1860. King arrived in Melbourne on 8 June 1860. The camels were offloaded a week later and accommodated at the Victorian Parliament House stables in Spring Street. They were later moved to newly constructed stables at Royal Park whence the Expedition had left. Robert O'Hara Burke was appointed leader of the Victorian Exploring Expedition with Landells as second-in-command. William John Wills was surveyor and astronomical observer and King was appointed as one of the Expedition Assistants on a salary"
"of £120 a year. The expedition left Melbourne on Monday, 20 August 1860 with a total of 19 men, 27 camels and 23 horses. They reached Menindee on 16 October 1860 where Landells resigned following an argument with Burke. Wills was promoted to second-in-command and King was placed in charge of the camels. Burke split the expedition at Menindee and the lead party reached Cooper Creek on 11 November 1860 where they formed a depot. The remaining men were expected to follow up from Menindee and so after a break, Burke decided to make a dash to the Gulf of"
"and Wills, two commissioned by the Exploration Committee, three by the Royal Society of Victoria and one by the Government of South Australia. Two went by sea in order to search the Gulf of Carpentaria for the missing expedition while the others began their search from different directions. After six months without receiving word from the Burke expedition, the media began questioning its whereabouts. Public pressure for answers increased and on 13 June 1861, the Exploration Committee agreed to send a search party to find the Burke and Wills expedition and, if necessary, offer them support. The Victorian Relief Expedition"
"barren tract of country, and bring 'Investigator's Road' [an anchorage] within the limits of Queensland.""Furthermore, expeditions in 1861-1862 funded by the South Australian, Victorian and Queensland governments to rescue the missing explorers Burke and Wills, who had failed to return from a journey from Cooper Creek to the Gulf of Carpentaria, led to the exploration of an enormous area of the inland and were predicted to stimulate interest in this previously unknown tract of land beyond Queensland's western boundary. Writing to the Secretary of State for the Colonies on 5 September 1861, the Queensland Governor George Bowen indicated his colony's"
"Carpentaria. Burke split the party again and left on 16 December 1860, placing William Brahe in charge of the depot on Cooper Creek. Burke, Wills, King and Charley Gray reached the mangroves on the estuary of the Flinders River, near where the town of Normanton now stands, on 9 February 1861. Flooding rains and swamps meant they never saw open ocean. Already weakened by starvation and exposure, progress on the return journey was slow and hampered by the tropical monsoon downpours of the wet season. Gray died four days before they reached the depot at Cooper Creek and the other"
"supernumeries John Osborne and Edwin James Welch. Robert O'Hara Burke was appointed leader of the Victorian Exploring Expedition with George James Landells as second-in-command. Wills was appointed third-in-command, surveyor, astronomical and meteorological observer in July 1860 on a salary of £300 a year. The expedition left Melbourne on Monday, 20 August 1860 with a total of 19 men, 27 camels and 23 horses. They reached Menindee on 16 October 1860 where Landells resigned following an argument with Burke. Wills was promoted to second-in-command. Burke split the expedition at Menindee and the lead party reached Cooper Creek on 11 November 1860"
"grave. The Royal Geographical Society of Australasia, organised to promote exploration, awarded Burke a posthumous RGS Founder's Medal in 1862. Wills was awarded nothing, as the Society's policy was to award only one medal to an exploration party. King received a gold watch, as did McKinlay, Landsborough and Walker for leading their various search parties. These search parties helped open up vast areas of inland Australia for settlement, as a result of the increased knowledge of the country they brought back with them. McKinlay had travelled northwards across the Cooper, to Gray's grave, and on to the Gulf of Carpentaria."
"King living with the Yandruwandha. Over the next nine days Howitt found the remains of Burke and Wills and buried them. In pitiful condition, King survived the two-month trip back to Melbourne, and died eleven years later, aged 33, never having recovered his health. He is buried in the Melbourne General Cemetery. On 4 August 1861, the HMCSS ""Victoria"" under the Command of William Henry Norman sailed from Hobson's Bay in Victoria with orders to search the Gulf of Carpentaria. Arriving in Brisbane on 24 August, the Queensland Relief Expedition boarded. The ""Victoria"" arrived at the Albert River in the"